Positivism: The Disease of c.1960-2000

Oddly enough, when one speaks of "positivism," it calls to mind the Authoritarian Age (usually regarded as the period between c. 1900-1960) during which the Authorities simply forced everyone to obey.

They were, of course, the Bad Old Authorities, who thought that illicit sexual relations of whatever stripe earned a severe reprimand if not jail--or that consumption of illicit substances earned similar judgment--or that ordaining homosexual priests was forbidden, or using cocktail-lounge music at Mass was a proximate cause of the loss of one's soul.

But in fact, the worst Age of Positivism emerged (both in the USA and the Roman Catholic Church) AFTER 1960, with the advent of the 'activist' Judiciary (now exemplified best by the Wisconsin Supremes, but preceded in spirit by the Warren Court) and, in the Church, by the Liturgeist-Activist-Revolutionaries--Mgrs. Bugnini, Weakland, et.al.

The New Authoritarians in both Church and State discarded Tradition in favor of imposing their own views and/or "scholarship."

And imposed they were, indeed.

In the secular realm, we have the contortionism neatly bundled under "PC" and its grotesque parentage. In the Church, we have turnabout 'tables,' Vernacular Vulgar, and cocktail- or manufactured-country "music."

Chew on THAT, you hippies.

And may Positivism die a quick death.